The chances are if you’re reading this blog post, you’ve probably seen/heard about the latest uproar in the health community in regards to the Paleo Diet.
Now this isn’t a new thing, its been going on for well over a year now, but the issue again reared its head after Channel 7 aired the story of Mike Willesee’s Paleo Diet transformation with the help of Pete Evans. Now don’t get me wrong, good on the bloke for trying to improve his health and for making the commitment to improving his diet, but did he need to adopt a “paleo lifestyle”? I think not. Anyone who watched the story would agree that by simply cutting out the excessive volume of Coke from his diet, would be an improvement. (If you would like a quick summary of this story, check out Charlie Pickering’s segment on ABC’s The Weekly).
So yet again Paleo Pete has taken on the whole dietetics community and the debate has often become quite personal. I know when I see his offensive comments I take it very personally- I didn’t study for five long and hard years at university to be told by an uneducated TV chef that everything I learnt is a conspiracy between food companies and the DAA, because its really not. Anyone who has actually studied Nutrition at a University level will agree that we learn how to approach people on an individual level, how to address specific issues of the specific person, and we are definitely not taught to “push” specific brands of food products onto people. We are taught how to make our own decisions and most importantly we learn how to address serious medical conditions correctly.
Ok so that’s that off my chest and enough of the negatives. Seeing as it looks like the paleo craze is not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, what are the positive aspects that we can focus on?
Now this isn’t a new thing, its been going on for well over a year now, but the issue again reared its head after Channel 7 aired the story of Mike Willesee’s Paleo Diet transformation with the help of Pete Evans. Now don’t get me wrong, good on the bloke for trying to improve his health and for making the commitment to improving his diet, but did he need to adopt a “paleo lifestyle”? I think not. Anyone who watched the story would agree that by simply cutting out the excessive volume of Coke from his diet, would be an improvement. (If you would like a quick summary of this story, check out Charlie Pickering’s segment on ABC’s The Weekly).
So yet again Paleo Pete has taken on the whole dietetics community and the debate has often become quite personal. I know when I see his offensive comments I take it very personally- I didn’t study for five long and hard years at university to be told by an uneducated TV chef that everything I learnt is a conspiracy between food companies and the DAA, because its really not. Anyone who has actually studied Nutrition at a University level will agree that we learn how to approach people on an individual level, how to address specific issues of the specific person, and we are definitely not taught to “push” specific brands of food products onto people. We are taught how to make our own decisions and most importantly we learn how to address serious medical conditions correctly.
Ok so that’s that off my chest and enough of the negatives. Seeing as it looks like the paleo craze is not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, what are the positive aspects that we can focus on?
- Increasing fresh fruit and vegetable intake. No matter what “diet” you call this; it’s a step in the right direction. Aiming for 5 serves of veggies and 2 of fruit per day is optimal and will provide an array of nutrients, vitamins and minerals.
- Reducing processed food intake. Again a very important factor for achieving optimal health. Processed foods often contain higher amounts of added sugars and salt than we often realize.
And lets not forget about the TV chefs doing some good too. It recently came to light that Jamie Oliver has been studying Nutrition so that he fully understands the science behind the healthy eating message he is promoting. I think his approach to implementing healthy eating in schools is exactly what is needed for future improvement. I also 100% agree with his ideas around minimizing food waste, eating a wide variety of different foods, and actually enjoying the food experience rather than focusing on the foods you “can’t” have. I definitely hope that in the coming months there is a shift in media attention towards the more positive food messages out there.